488 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



OCTOBER 12, 1S99. 



houses are made in the most approved 

 style, and when we describe them we 

 give a good description of all the 

 houses in Belgium, with 1 i i tie varia- 

 tion. 



All the houses are built of haul 

 brick, as hard as fire can make them. 

 Walls about four feet high, equal 

 span. All houses seen, with the ex- 

 ception of one lean-to. were equal 

 span, in sections of six. eight or twelve 

 houses. Each section is surrounded 

 by this brick wall. There is no cen- 

 ter or inside dividing wall, but the 

 whole is one open space from wall to 

 wall, forming one great house. The 

 paths are under the gutters, and the 

 heating pipes are overhead and under 

 the gutters. The saving in construc- 

 tion can at once be seen, and an ad- 

 vantage in a freer, purer atmosphere 

 is insured. 



I am not quite sure that houses of 

 this construction would suit our c'.i- 

 mate, with our heavy snowfalls, anil 

 yet when on further inquiry I find that 

 many houses in Canada are built en 

 the ridge and furrow plan. I am satis- 

 fied that the introduction of this style 

 of house will be carried out in the 

 near future by some one in Canada. 



Very little wood is used in building. 

 The gutters are kept up by strong 

 arches of iron, which form the path 

 and at the same time act as supports 

 for the heating pipes. Four-inch pipes 

 are used entirely for heating. Theie 

 is a new greenhouse pipe on trial theie 

 which looked rather strange to me. 

 That is, a 4-inch pipe with a 6-inch 

 heating surface. This is done by 

 means of a 2-inch raised surface some- 

 what in the form of a screw nail. 

 Some think well of it, others said 

 that it was not worth the cost. The 

 heating, as I have already said, is en- 

 tirely done by hot water, the flows, as 

 has already been shown, carried over- 

 head to the further end of the 

 houses and then dropped to under, or 

 alongside the benches, where the re- 

 turns are carried back to the boilers. 



I may say that in all the count ri s 

 visited, France, Belgium. Holland, 

 England and Scotland, the same stj 1 ■ 

 of commercial greenhouse is met with, 

 with this difference, that the newe t 

 are joined together, the older build- 

 ings stand apart. Indeed, so slight is 

 the difference that it is not worth 

 mentioning. The greatest difference 

 being in the side lights and the inter- 

 nal arrangements. 



I think we have here something to 

 learn. We are too easily carried away 

 by every whim and fancy of men who 

 are not themselves growers, men 

 whose business it is to work out new 

 ideas, and no sooner than we build 

 three-quarter span than we are in- 

 formed that long span to the north is 

 an immense improvement, and the le- 

 sults expected wonderful. Then like a 

 weathercock, a change; long-span-to- 

 the-south; we may expect at any mo- 

 ment a move to the north or east. How 

 much precious time and money aie 

 spent in this way without sufficient re- 

 turn for the capital invested? Remem- 



ber, I do not cry down improvements; 

 more light, a purer atmosphere, bet- 

 ter means of growing, but I do say 

 that a fixed style, so near perfection, 

 should be settled upon. That men 

 who make a living by growing plants 

 and flowers would stop being blown 

 about by every wind and doctrine of 

 restless brains. In proof of superior- 

 ity of such houses as I have given you, 

 many of the best growers in the Unit- 

 ed States are adopting them, namely 

 Ward and Dreer. The new houses 

 built a short time ago by Mr. Dreer, 

 and which occupied the attention of 

 the trade papers, are the same. 



In Belgium I was very much struck 

 by the care and attention given to the 

 inside fittings. When a house is built 

 over there it is built to stand a life- 

 time. Wood is the only thing used in 

 building here, and even then the nec- 

 essary precautions are not taken to 

 have it last as long as it might, hen. e 

 we are forever building houses, or 

 benches, paths, etc. Over there scarce- 

 ly a piece of wood is to be seen in the 

 newer houses. The outside walls, 

 brick and ce"ment; the gutter plates 

 cement and wire, or iron with a heavy 

 coating of tar. The benches are built 

 of iron and flat tile and cement. 



One of the notable features, to me at 

 least, was the size of the benches 

 which were made of cement and wire. 

 Nothing could break them, no rap- 

 ping or rotting out; a vast improve- 

 ment on anything I have seen else- 

 where. Can you imagine the saving of 

 time and money in this way? I think 

 we have a lesson to learn here, to 

 build more permanent buildings, less 

 fancy in some cases, but certainly 

 more enduring. I saw in % Ghcnt a 

 range of houses, put up by Mr. Kuyk, 

 that had not a single piece of wood in 

 their construction. Brick, cement, iron, 

 glass. In Bruges Mr. Sander was 

 building a large range with very little 

 or no wood, and nothing more could 

 be desired for commercial purpose 

 than those houses just mentioned. Suf- 

 ficiently low, roomy, light, durabla and 

 easily worked. 



As you know, Belgium supplies the 

 world with palms and azaleas, and 

 when you go over the ground you 

 would wonder how the world uses 

 them, the quantity is so great. The 

 azaleas are all planted out in beds 

 four or five plants across and as long 

 as the place, with here and there a 

 path cutting across the beds. The scil 

 used is of a sandy nature and is mixed 

 with peat and leaf-mold. In and 

 around Ghent for miles there is noth- 

 ing but nurseries and almost evr,»y 

 one of them grows azaleas, and when 

 I saw them the plants in general were 

 very fair, some of them, of course, 

 better than others. I am sorry that I 

 did not get some views of these nur- 

 series to give you a proper conception 

 of the number of plants grown. 



The Belgium style of watering was 

 a noble sight to me. At regular dis- 

 tances are set cement tanks sunk down 

 in the ground to within a foot or so 

 from the top rim, all at a level. The 



water is supplied to these tanks by a 

 pipe running from one to the other, 

 which is pumped by an engine or by 

 horse power, or by wind, and all the 

 tanks are kept almost full of water. 

 The Belgians are expert waterers. Al- 

 most all of these men take a large 

 watering can in each hand. Before 

 starting to water they put off their 

 shoes, or clogs, turn up their pants to 

 below the knee. They then fill the 

 cans, one in each hand, and take one- 

 half of the bed across. These cans 

 have large ro»es on. The moment the 

 water strikes the rose the cans are 

 swung from side to side, that is, from 

 right to left. The water falls over and 

 under the foliage in this way and at 

 tin' same time waters the roots thor- 

 oughly. I wondered how red spider is 

 kept off the plants. It is the way the 

 watering is done. This is done every 

 day in summer. This is the reason 

 the plants received in fall have such 

 beautiful, clean, dark foliage; and the 

 reason why the plants kept over by 

 the growers in this country lose their 

 vigor is because they do not attend to 

 the wants of the plants in this way. 



When shipping time comes the 

 plants are pulled up, wrapped with 

 shavings or moss and sent to their 

 destination. The plants are not grown 

 in pots, as some would imagine. In 

 some of the largest azalea nurseries 

 which I visited you could not see a 

 single flower pot except 3-inch pots. 

 These are used to grow the young 

 stock. 



The palms are all grown in the 

 houses of which we have already spo- 

 ken. The number I do not know. I 

 do not know if they know themselves. 

 Palms of every size and variety, from 

 the graceful, slender cocos to plants 

 many feet high. Kentias, however, 

 take the lead in London. 



Another plant of which they grow 

 large quantities is the Laurus Nobilis, 

 the Bay Tree. In the nursery of Louis 

 de Smet there were enough plants to 

 make an avenue a mile long, very fine 

 specimens, in pyramids and standards. 

 The plants of this kind are all grown 

 in hardwood tubs. In shipping them 

 they are merely covered over with 

 bagging and shipped singly. 



Some growers cultivate a great vari- 

 ety of plants, such as the finest places 

 in other countries do. Some grow 

 large quantities of tuberous rooted be- 

 gonias. Their grounds make a very gay 

 appearance when the plants are in 

 bloom. In some places they grow great 

 numbers of gloxinias. They are all 

 planted out in benches, in some such 

 way as we plant carnations or roses. 

 Some grow for seed, some for the cul- 

 tivation of the bulbs. 



\rau.arias are grown by almost 

 every grower. They are grown out- 

 side, under slats. The sun is not al- 

 lowed to strike on the plant with its 

 full power. This I think is a very use- 

 ful hint to some of you who grow this 

 plant, for if they need shading over 

 there they need it much more here. 

 The structures I speak of are about 

 eight to ten feet high and as broad and 



